Physical Activity in Depressed and Non-Depressed Patients with Obesity
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
King’s Research Portal DOI: 10.1007/s40519-016-0347-8 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication record in King's Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Sander, C., Ueck, P., Mergl, R., Gordon, G., Hegerl, U., & Himmerich, H. (2017). Physical activity in depressed and non-depressed patients with obesity. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-016-0347-8 Citing this paper Please note that where the full-text provided on King's Research Portal is the Author Accepted Manuscript or Post-Print version this may differ from the final Published version. If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the Research Portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognize and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. •Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the Research Portal for the purpose of private study or research. •You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain •You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the Research Portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 Eat Weight Disord DOI 10.1007/s40519-016-0347-8 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Physical activity in depressed and non-depressed patients with obesity 1 1 1 2 Christian Sander • Patrick Ueck • Roland Mergl • Gemma Gordon • 1,3 1,2,3 Ulrich Hegerl • Hubertus Himmerich Received: 5 September 2016 / Accepted: 29 December 2016 Ó The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Conclusions Obesity seems to be associated with a sub- Purpose Obesity and depression have both been shown to stantial reduction of PA and energy expenditure, whereas be associated with reduced physical activity (PA). How- the effect of an additional depressive disorder was com- ever, most studies have not applied objective measures to parably small. Even though depression did not have any determine PA in patients. Moreover, to our knowledge, no statistically significant effect on steps and METs per day in studies are available comparing depressed and non-de- this study with obese patients, it could be clinically rele- pressed patients with regard to PA. vant for an individual patient. Methods We investigated PA in 47 patients with both obesity and depression, 70 non-depressed patients with Keywords Steps Á Activity Á Actigraphy Á Depression Á obesity, and 71 non-depressed and non-obese healthy Obesity control participants using the SenseWearTM Armband (SWA) with walked steps per day and metabolic equiva- lents (MET) as parameters for PA. Introduction Results Depressed as well as non-depressed patients with obesity showed a significantly reduced PA as reflected by Depression and obesity are two of today’s major public walked steps as well as reduced METs. Healthy controls health issues that cause a magnitude of disease burden, walked a mean of 11,586 ± 3731 (SD) steps per day, functional disability and mortality [1–7]. According to the whereas non-depressed patients with obesity accumulated World Health Organization (WHO), *350 million people 7283 ± 3547 and patients with both obesity and depression worldwide suffer from depression [6], and 600 million recorded only 6177 ± 3291 steps per day. However, the people are obese [7]. difference between depressed and non-depressed patients Obesity is an excessive fat accumulation that may with obesity did not reach statistical significance either in impair health [7], and is defined by the WHO as having a terms of walked steps or with regard to METs. body mass index (BMI) C30 kg/m2 [7]. It has been reported to increase the likelihood of various diseases, particularly heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep C. Sander and P. Ueck contributed equally to this work. apnoea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis [8]. It most commonly develops on the basis of interactive fac- & Hubertus Himmerich tors: a combination of excessive food energy intake against [email protected] the background of the modern obesogenic food environ- 1 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University ment, the lack of physical activity (PA) in contemporary Hospital Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany daily life, and genetic susceptibility [8–10]. The modern 2 Department of Psychological Medicine, King’s College food environment is characterized by readily available London, 103 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF, UK snacks, caloric beverages, foods with high palatability and 3 Leipzig University Medical Center, IFB Adiposity Diseases, high energy density, large portion sizes, comparatively low Leipzig, Germany price, and ready availability [9]. Of the main causal factors, 123 Eat Weight Disord caloric intake and PA remain best suited to therapeutic However, we are not aware of any study that has influence. specifically investigated the level of PA in lean depressed Physical activity is inversely related to body weight and patients compared to lean healthy controls. Similarly, we fat mass as shown, for example, in the European did not find any investigation examining the difference prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition (EPIC) between depressed and non-depressed patients with obe- study [10] using data from more than 4,00,000 study par- sity. It is yet unclear whether patients suffering from both ticipants; for further review on studies regarding the rela- obesity and depression are less physically active than tionship between PA, fat mass and obesity, see [11, 12]. patients with obesity but without depression. This question Neuropeptides and cytokines seem to modify this associ- bears a significant clinical impact, because if patients with ation as plasma levels of the neuropeptide orexin-A have both obesity and depression are less physically active than been shown to be lower in patients with obesity, but higher non-depressed individuals with obesity, it would put them in participants with obesity who are more physically active at an additional risk for sequelae of obesity. As depression [13], and levels of interleukin (IL-4), IL-10 and IL-13 have is a treatable disorder, this additional risk may be avoid- been reported to be elevated in participants with low PA able. Evaluation of the additional risk of low PA due to [14]. depression for patients suffering from another disease is not Medical literature clearly demonstrates beneficial a novel research idea. The risk of low PA due to depression effects of PA on several health outcomes, including its has, for example, also been evaluated for patients suffering role as a protective factor against cardiovascular disease from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [48] and all-cause mortality [15]. Regular PA has been shown and fibromyalgia [44]. There are some published studies to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression and to using actigraphy to determine differences in PA between increase both physical and psychological quality of life patients with and without depression [44] (for review see [16, 17]. Worldwide, however, one out of every five [47]), and also between patients with and without obesity adults is considered physically inactive, which is defined [10, 11]. Yet again, to the knowledge of the authors, studies as being engaged in \20 min per day of vigorous-in- comparing the actigraphy-measured activity of depressed tensity PA on at least 3 days per week or \30 min per obese patients and non-depressed patients are not available. day of moderate PA on at least 5 days a week [18, 19]. If depressed patients with obesity were less physically The most objective measure to determine PA is actigra- active than non-depressed patients with obesity, the group phy [20, 21] which makes a record of the activity level of patients suffering from both obesity and depression of the body. These actigraphy devices use various tech- would be at a specifically high risk for health consequences nologies such as piezoelectric effects to measure accel- of inactivity as well as for reduced wellbeing and limited eration along a movement axis [22]. Typically, the device quality of life. For the measurement of activity in the is worn for a specific period of time to continuously present study, we used a SenseWearTM Armband (SWA) record gross motor activity using an accellerometer. which is an established actometric method [49–51]to Actigraphy has been in use since the 1980s to quantify objectively measure PA. PA [23]. Taken together, no studies are available comparing A reciprocal relationship between obesity and depres- patients with both depression and obesity and patients with sion has been observed. Obesity has been reported to obesity but not depression with regard to objectively increase the risk for depression [24–30] and, in turn, measured PA. The present study first investigates whether depression has been shown to increase the risk for obesity patients with obesity are less physically active than healthy [31–38] in prospective studies. Typical symptoms of controls and, secondly, whether patients who are both depression include fatigue and loss of energy [39]. Indi- depressed and obese are less physically active than non- viduals with such symptoms are more likely to engage in depressed patients with obesity. lower levels of PA, which, in turn, facilitates the devel- opment of obesity.